Have it Our Way

'Tis the season! Temper tantrum season, that is.

Did you ever see a 3-year-old being told that he can't have all the cookies because that wouldn't be fair to the other kids? He starts yelling and stomping about because he wants all the cookies. He doesn't want to hear why it's not fair - heck he doesn't CARE that it's not fair. He wants those cookies and nothing his parents say will convince him that he shouldn't have them.

Well, once again, the little boys on the right are stomping their feet and shaking their fists because they have to share.

Share what? Good wishes ...
        ... with others! Oh, the horror!

A small portion of those who call themselves Christians have their knickers in a knot over the phrase "Happy Holidays." Just like a whiny toddler told "no," they rant and scream, unwilling to be fair to others because they're not getting their own way. They want everyone to be told to have a "Merry Christmas," even if that person's holiday is Hanukka, Kwanzaaa, some other winter festival, or even none of the above.

They don't care that there are [gasp!] OTHER holidays at the SAME TIME of year! They don't want to hear a greeting that can cover all the bases. They want to hear what they want to hear, damnit!

No one else matters. Fairness doesn't matter. Basic respect doesn't matter. They, the self-important, self-centered crybabies are all that matter.

One other common behavior among whiny kids is the development of all sorts of unfounded arguments in favor of their viewpoint. They'll say anything that they think might help their cause. "But I NEED all the cookies, 'cuz I have a sniffle and they're chocolate, and chocolate makes you better!"

So our whiny little commentators have pulled out the flimsy "Christian Nation" argument. For example, the ill-informed Bill O'Reilly has an on-going segment implying that the secular boogeyman (aka anyone who disagrees with him) is hiding under the bed, readying to reach up and grab Christianity in a plot to destroy the nation (implying with his twisted logic that Christianity and the US are the same thing):

Now most people, of course, love Christmas and want to keep its traditions, but the secular movement has influence in the media, among some judges and politicians. Americans will lose their country if they don't begin to take action. Any assault on Judeo-Christian philosophy should be fought.

Ahem. [sound of throat clearing]

Just the Facts Ma'am
This nation began with the settlement of the Jamestown (Virginia) colony. It was chartered by the Virginia Company as a profit-making venture for the export of raw materials from the "new world" to England. The people in the colony were religious, which is not a surprise, coming from England at the time they did. They were pretty much guaranteed to hold the beliefs of one or another sect of the Christian church. As a result, it was no big deal when the House of Burgesses - the first legislative assembly allowed in the colonies by the King of England - required church attendance for the colonists.

Similarly, when the Pilgrims, a religious sect, came along, they created local regulations regarding religious behavior. They came to the New World after Lutheranism/Calvinism took a beating in England - with certain of the key tenets (such as predestination) of their sect having been replaced in the Church of England by beliefs derived from the Works of James Arminius.

So with all these Christians running things in the colonies, what the heck happened to the Constitution?
It's true that the various colonies were founded by people with strong backgrounds in one Christian sect or another. But the Constitituion doesn't reflect any particular Christian sect, or any religion for that matter. As a matter of fact, it most explicitly forbids the government from establishing religion. From Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Law, establishment in this context means:

a church recognized by law as the official church of a nation or state and supported by civil authority.

Why the Heck Did They Do That?
The founders went WELL out of their way to put a great big divider between the government and religion, because they knew all too well the tyranny that eventually happens once government starts sticking it's grubby little fingers into people's faith. As the pilgrims learned, life was great for them when the government sanctioned their religious beliefs, but when the government decided that it liked other ideas better, things became mighty intolerable.

The people who wrote the US Constitution, one of the most impressive documents in the history of mankind, had learned a very difficult lesson the hard way. They wrote the principles of Separation of Church and State into the Constitution to ensure the rest of us didn't have to repeat that particular lesson.

James Madison, a devout Christian, often pointed out as an example of the so-called Christian foundation of our nation, was a very strong believer in separating religion from government. Here's an illustrative quote from a letter Madison wrote [emphasis added]:

... I have no doubt that every new example, will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together. It was the belief of all sects at one time that the establishment of Religion by law, was right & necessary; that the true religion ought to be established in exclusion of every other; And that the only question to be decided was which was the true religion. The example of Holland proved that a toleration of sects, dissenting from the established sect, was safe & even useful. The example of the Colonies, now States, which rejected religious establishments altogether, proved that all Sects might be safely & advantageously put on a footing of equal & entire freedom; and a continuance of their example since the declaration of Independence, has shewn that its success in Colonies was not to be ascribed to their connection with the parent Country. If a further confirmation of the truth could be wanted, it is to be found in the examples furnished by the States, which have abolished their religious establishments. I cannot speak particularly of any of the cases excepting that of Virga. [abbr. for Virginia] where it is impossible to deny that Religion prevails with more zeal, and a more exemplary priesthood than it ever did when established and patronised by Public authority. We are teaching the world the great truth that Govts. do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Govt.

- James Madison

So, yes, this country was founded in part, by Christians (other founders, such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were deists). However, they did not found the United States as a Christian nation. They founded it as a nation in which they and all others could freely worship according to their religious beliefs.

So Bill O'Reilly, and his group of frustrated whiners should be treated like any tantrum-throwing child: time-out. Don't watch or listen and let them know you're not. While you're at it, call or write to the advertisers on those shows and let them know you've put them in time-out. After all, as the holders of the purse strings, the advertisers have the power to enforce a time-out...

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200,000 Minutes of Free Calling for Wounded Vets

We hear a lot about "supporting our troops" from the right, but words and deeds seem awfully far apart. For example, besides obvious example of failing to order the armor needed in a war zone, in this administration's continued demonstration of so-called "support" for our troops, the swell folks running our government require wounded soldiers to pay to call home from the hospital.

From the Marine Times:

The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs says soldiers recovering from war injuries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are asking for phone cards because the government doesn’t pay for long-distance calls.

The department says many soldiers will be at the hospital through the holidays and phone card donations of any amount can be sent to: Medical Family Assistance Center, Walter Reed Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20307-5001.

Some people think that's not only unsupportive, and horribly unfair, but stupid.

So, a group of people belonging to Democracy for America's Dean Corps decided on a project to buy calling cards to donate to VA hospitals, such as Walter Reed, that care for the most severely wounded. Democracy for America matched those cards minute for minute. DFA-ers donated 100,000 minutes, and Democracy for America donated a matching 100,000 minutes, for a total of 200,000 minutes.

Cards are on their way at this very moment, and will be there in time for calls home on Christmas.

Now that's support.

Thank you Dean Corps and DFA!

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Redistribution of Burden

WARNING!

For the irony-impared: This post contains irony. Proceed at your own risk.

"Redistribution of wealth!" comes the cry from those poor, unfortunate, wealthy corporatists on the right, "It's class warfare!"

They're right, you know. It is redistribution of wealth. It is class warfare. They just neglected to mention how the wealth is being reditributed and which class is waging the war.

Oops! They can be so forgetful...

If you don't know what I mean, let me give you a hint:

It was really nice to make major structural changes to our home entirely from our tax refund.

You see, the current so-called tax "reform" is really a redistribution of burden from the rich onto the middle class.

With that in mind, I guess I should say "Thank you middle class!" We even got to choose a more expensive custom color due to your generosity.

Isn't it neat how Uncle Sam takes it from you, and gives it to us? It's a nice gig, if you can get it.

Well, actually you probably can't, because many of the people in our income bracket and above, who don't care about fairness, who don't recognize the concept of 'enough' are working really, really hard to make sure the tax code shifts even more of the burden for the infrastructure of our country from us to you. It makes it harder for you to afford things like education for your kids, while we get luxury cars. Isn't that great?!

Your taxes are going up in all sorts of hidden little ways, but not the federal income-tax itself. It's kind of like the way colleges raise tuition without raising the tuition itself: charging more for parking, lab fees, activity fees, facilities fees, and so on. The big number everyone looks at doesn't jump out as having exploded since the last year, but boy do you pay through the nose when school starts!

Well, it's late, and I need to sign off, but thanks again, middle class. Keep voting for the folks who do this stuff for us. We're more than happy to accept your hard-earned cash.

Irony-impared folks: Did you find it?

Of course, those of us who do recognize the concept of "enough" and believe in fairness will continue working our behinds off to defeat those very people, even though it's seemingly against our own interests. Why? Because we also know that our real interests lie in an America where fairness reigns and everyone has the opportunity to thrive due to a rich and varied economic ecosystem.

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